When longtime Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak called it quits, there wasn’t an obvious successor waiting in the wings like there was with Ken Jennings and Jeopardy!. Eventually, Ryan Seacrest stepped into his shoes and Season 42 of the long-running series, making his debut on Monday, September 9. Perhaps due to sheer curiosity about what the show could look like with another host, Wheel of Fortune saw a noticeable ratings bump.
Seacrest’s debut episode saw a 57% rating bump over the previous season’s debut, according to Deadline. Keep in mind that’s just for the debut episode, and the ratings could very quickly slump again now that curiosity has been quelled in many people. Even then, a ratings increase like this is promising for the show, and it proves that audiences weren’t opposed to a new host. There were still some complaints, naturally.
Fortunately for Seacrest, he was not the focus of the discourse on the show’s Reddit thread, but the changes made to the formatting of what audiences see on screen. Having switched around the placement of contestants, who now appear at the bottom of the screen while the game board is at the top, many viewers have similar views to the one aired below.
Also hate them showing the contestants at [the] bottom during the toss ups. It’s a distraction. I just want to see the puzzle! Why do they always feel like they need to change things just [because] there’s a new host.
Seacrest was excited about the opportunity to host, and he thanked viewers for giving him a warm welcome. It’s not an easy task to step into the shoes of a TV legend, but Seacrest seemed like a natural.
“Hosting
Wheel of Fortune
is a dream job. I’ve been a fan of this show since I was a kid, watching in Atlanta with my family, and I know how special it is that Wheel has been in your living rooms for the past 40 years. I’m just so grateful to be invited in. I also know I’ve got some very big shoes to fill.”
Vanna White is still here
Although Sajak, and now Seacrest, was the host of the series, Wheel of Fortune is a job for two people. Vanna White didn’t retire with Sajak, so she’s still around revealing the letters to contestants for the Seacrest era. While it’s still familiar to viewers, this season has a new set, and White gave Good Morning America a tour of the design, including the letter board.
“I don’t even have to touch the letter anymore. This is a blank screen with a video on it, right? There’s lasers up there. So, when I go to touch a letter, it catches the movement of my hand so it lights up. Isn’t that crazy?”
GMA also asked Seacrest about what it’s like to work with White after seeing her on TV for decades. Unsurprisingly, he explained it came as a shock, but he knows how important it is to keep things moving along smoothly.
“I mean, it’s out of body,” he said. “It’s out of body for me, you know, to have watched Vanna, and watched this show and Pat, and what they’ve built with audiences across this country. And what this show means to people in their living rooms every night, and their families, and generations of people who have watched this show, it is a very special thing that just doesn’t exist anywhere else.”